Chapter 12 Chapter 1 Street Walking (2)

With a pack on each shoulder, Marty stepped out of the alley.In front of the garbage dump at the alley, she threw the bag containing the obscene clothes and the diary into the garbage truck, and walked quickly into the night. Without any goal, Marty started roaming the streets of Taipei again.Taipei at night was still covered with fallen leaves after the typhoon. When the evening wind blew, the fallen leaves all over the ground beckoned to her as if they were alive.Either direction is fine, as if in a dream. And so on and on, until Marty's legs were too weak to move on.Now she is beside the railway on Yanji Street, and further ahead is the fourth section of Zhongxiao East Road, which seems to never sleep.The well-dressed men and women passed by Marty, and when they saw Marty, they no longer looked at her despondency.In Taipei at night, people are not interested in watching others.

Finally, finally walked out of this house, and Jason also died.It stands to reason that she should have no worries and be as free as the wind.But why is her heart as heavy as a pile of lead? Because people are not the wind.Marty reached into her bag and felt for the sixty-thousand-dollar envelope, the only thing she had in this world.Marty sat down on a concrete hedge.Man is not the wind.To live like a human being in this city, you have to have a job, have money, and have a place to live.Simply put, one must have an identity before becoming a person, a Taipei native. Next to the concrete fence is a 24-hour convenience store.A yellow, short-haired, black-mouthed stray dog ​​was lying beside the supermarket door. The dog was sleeping comfortably on its side, exposing the breasts of the puppies it once nursed.People entering and leaving the supermarket had to step over it, but the chaotic footsteps did not disturb the slow breathing of stray dogs in their sleep at all.A stray dog ​​is humble, it accepts its humble fate so domineeringly, and sleeps comfortably on the street.Marty kept looking at it, a little sadly, a little envious.Man is not the wind, man is not even a dog.Mattie thinks of the plan for now, which is to find a job as soon as possible, find a place to live, and find her position in society.

Position yourself in society.Marty thought to himself, how many people freeze themselves in their lives because of this sentence? Marty looked at her watch. It was four minutes past eleven. She hadn't finished a chaotic, long day, but she was so tired that she just hoped for a bed.Marty looked at his watch again. It was eleven past six.She knew she had no choice but to go to the place she least wanted to go, but which was most likely to take her now.She had fled there at all costs.How paradoxically, people call that place home, her natal home. Marty waved for a taxi.Soon, the car drove towards the southeast of Taipei, the Taipei Basin gradually narrowed, and the dark ridge loomed ahead.There are two bright holes pierced through the belly of the mountain, the Xinhai Tunnel.Since she was a child, she felt that the tunnel was like a huge mouth opened by a black troll. Once people entered, they would be swallowed by endless darkness, fall, fall, and fall into an abyss with no exit. As in the past, the huge abyss.

There were few cars at night, and the taxi quickly passed through the Xinhai Tunnel.Of course the abyss does not exist, and the tunnel is filled with warm light yellow lights, but the past is like a bag, guarding the other end of the tunnel, grabbing Marty mercilessly. That year, my mother carried Marty, who was sleeping soundly, and drove across the ridge in a car, leaving the other side of the mountain with only a suitcase.Since then, Marty and her mother have lived a life of frequent relocation.In my memory, my mother seemed to have done all kinds of odd jobs, always so tired, so angry, and so poor.My mother never said anything about how or why she escaped from that home, and Marty never thought about asking the truth, mainly because she never understood what is called home.Marty was three years old when her mother took her away from home.

By the time Marty was old enough to question it all, Mom had died so early.Marty will never forget, in front of the simple mourning hall of the funeral parlor, she sat in sackcloth very sadly, wondering all the time, what should I do if I live alone?Do you want to keep going to school?At that time, the kind grandmother who helped out the neighbor brought a man, a father she didn't know at all.The old-looking dad crouched down and put his arms around her, just weeping.Marty was twelve years old that year. Dad took Marty in a taxi.It was late at night, and Marty saw the dark mountains getting closer. The Xinhai Tunnel seemed like a huge mouth opened by the night, and the car drove straight in, through the tunnel, and back to the other side of the ridge.Dad said, Marty, you don't have to be afraid, you have a family now.The home is on the fourth floor of an apartment building, with iron doors carved with flowers and vines, three rooms, a balcony, an aunt, and two younger brothers.

After that, Marty stayed.Until I was admitted to university and moved into the dormitory. Afterwards, Marty took a long turn and is now riding through the tunnel to get back to that spot again. The taxi pulled up in front of the house, and Marty checked his watch again. It was eleven thirty-five.After paying the fare, Marty hesitated at the door.It's very late, but my aunt goes to bed even later, and now I can't help running into my aunt when I go upstairs, but what should I do?Just as he was thinking, the iron door on the first floor opened, and Marty saw a thin figure coming out, turned around and slowly closed the door but did not close it.It was Dad, older and younger than the last time we met, with two large garbage bags in one hand.

"Dad," Marty called softly in the dark. Dad looked over in horror.Seeing that it was Marty, a soft smile appeared on his wrinkled face. "You're back, Marty?" "Dad, I'm never going back to Fang's house again." As soon as Marty finished speaking, tears rolled down his eyes.She didn't wipe away her tears, but just looked straight at Dad. Dad didn't show any expression. He was stunned for a few seconds like a machine with a power cut off, then nodded slowly, and walked forward to reach out for Marty's luggage. "Stay here. Matty, stay here. Huh?"

Marty held back Dad's hand to take the luggage and helped him with a bag of trash.The two silently took away the garbage side by side, and then walked back home side by side. When going upstairs, Marty hesitated again: "Dad, is Auntie asleep?" "It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter," Dad said, "Don't worry about it, I'll talk it out for you, just stay here." Opening the iron gate carved with flowers and vines, the house is very bright. Sure enough, the aunt is still awake, but her face is tired, and the whole person looks unexpectedly swollen.She nodded and smiled at Marty, and Dad went into the kitchen with her and whispered.Marty was still carrying his luggage, standing in the living room, while his younger brother Ma Nan was sitting on a wicker chair with his feet curled up, reading a thick reference book.He looked up and saw Marty, and called out: "Sister." He bowed his head and continued to read.

"Are you going to have a test tomorrow?" Thinking of the embarrassment of standing like this, Marty tried to find something to say. "No." Ma Nan looked at the book, "I have passed the graduation exam, where did I get the exam?" "Oh, you have to work hard." Marty thought of Ma Nan, a senior in high school, who was about to face the college entrance examination. Dad and aunt walked out of the kitchen, and Dad came to pick up Marty's luggage very attentively: "Come on, first go to the room to put down the things, and then we will live in your eldest brother's room."

When Marty walked into the room silently behind his father, the aunt said: "Your elder brother is serving in the army and rarely comes back, so it doesn't matter if you live with him." Marty smiled gratefully at Auntie, but Auntie had turned around and walked into her bedroom while rubbing her fat waist. The big brother Ma Tong's room used to be the place where Marty lived, and the layout of the room is quite different from the past.Marty felt the room getting smaller and more crowded.Where the desk used to be, now there is a desk with a computer on it; the curtains have been changed; the poster of James Dean pasted by Marty on the bed has become Michael Jordan; There is a large set of stereos by the wall, and a whole cabinet of tapes.

Marty sat on the bed, she was too tired, she just wanted to sleep first, and pack her luggage tomorrow, but Dad didn't seem to have the intention of going out, he played with Ma Tong's stereo, and slowly looked at the furniture in the room one by one .